Views from the Hawke’s Nest: AAW Path of Redemption 2013

Merrionette Park, Illinois
March 1, 2013

Commentators: Phil Colvin & Daryck St. Holmes

AAW Heritage Title Tournament Semifinals
Samuray Del Sol vs. Louis Lyndon
They started the match with some excellent sequences. Beautiful stuff. Lyndon got control of the match, and he worked Del Sol over for a while. Lyndon hit a moonsault to the floor. Back in the ring, Del Sol got a nearfall with a standing sliced bread. Del Sol got another nearfall with a bridging dragon suplex. Lyndon avoided a reverse rana and got a nearfall with a bridging German. Lyndon got another nearfall with a moonsault double knees. Ouch. They traded pinning combos. Lyndon went for a Brogue Kick, but Del Sol avoided it and hit a Rising Sun: 1…2…3!

Del Sol and Lyndon did a bunch of cool stuff, and they entertained me the entire match. Big thumbs up. This was exactly what I want from wrestling.
Match Rating: ***1/2

AAW Heritage Title Tournament Semifinals
ACH vs. Juntai Miller
Miller has finally been booked well since the tournament started. ACH should be the future of wrestling. I am pumped for this match.

Miller went for a springboard move early, but ACH caught him with a dropkick. ACH worked Miller over for a while. ACH was in control for a while. Miller came back with a BOING Knees. ACH came back with an enzuigiri and a slingshot Ace Crusher. Miller got a nearfall with a kneeling curb stomp. Miller then stomped ACH’s head into a turnbuckle and then hit a dragon suplex: 1…2…NO! Miller went for a Ghetto Stomp, but ACH avoided it. ACH then hit a sequence of kicks and a Cram for the Exam: 1…2…3!

I give the opener a slight edge, but this was another fun match. ACH is a wrestling god. Miller has got a ton of potential. Good stuff.
Match Rating: ***1/4

Colt Cabana vs. Dan Lawrence
This feels like a waste of Colt Cabana. Colt accidentally whipped the referee in the balls with a towel. The crowd was greatly amused. Colt did Colt things to Lawrence in the beginning of the match. Lawrence eventually cut Colt off with a neckbreaker. Lawrence worked him over for a while. Colt made a comeback and called for the GTS. Lawrence got a sleeper. Cabana escaped and hit a lariat. Lawrence tried to use the ropes to pin Colt, but Colt escaped. Colt then got a pin with a handful of tights: 1…2…3.

This was a rather lifeless affair. I’m not the world’s biggest Colt Cabana fan, but I have to imagine that there was a better way to use him on this show.
Match Rating: *

Sami Callihan vs. Shane Hollister (w/ Scarlett)
Markus Crane jumped Sami from behind. Hollister promptly hit a brainbuster: 1…2…NO! Sami has awful bleached blonde hair. WTF. Sami made a comeback, but some shenanigans happened and Hollister low blowed him. Hollister worked him over. They ended up on the floor. Sami killed Crane with a slam on the floor. Hollister hit a tope suicida. Back in the ring, they kicked each other in the head at the same time. Hollister is becoming awesome. Sami got a nearfall with a DVD. Hollister hit a springboard tornado DDT and a running knee strike: 1…2…NO! Sami went for the trio of facewashes, but Hollister avoided the third and hit three superkicks. Sami avoided a fourth and hit a Brogue Kick. Release powerbomb from Sami. Sami got the Stretch Muffler. Hollister escaped. Sami went for a Silverking lariat, but Hollister caught him with a superkick. Hollister then hit a Ghetto Stomp and a brainbuster: 1…2…NO! Scarlett accidentally hit Shane with a loaded purse: 1…2…NO! Brogue Kick from Sami. Sami then hit a Liger Bomb: 1…2…3!

Hollister pie faced Scarlett after the match.

This match was a ton of fun. I think this is the best Hollister has ever looked in terms of being a complete professional wrestler. These two have good chemistry, and I expect that their Last Man Standing match will be very good.
Match Rating: ***1/2

We Are Here (Keith Walker, Lamar Titan, & Tweak Phoenix w/ Kevin Harvey & Nikki) vs. Marion Fontaine, Darin Corbin, & Ryan Boz [Bourbon Street Fight]

As one would expect, this match started as a brawl. The early story was that Boz and Walker tried to square off, but everyone else broke it up. The match was all brawling all the time. Nikki got involved at one point, and she brought powder into the proceedings. Boz tossed Phoenix through some chairs in the first big spot of the match. Fontaine got a nearfall on Titan and then a nearfall on Walker (What?). Boz and Walker went to square off again, but again, everyone else blocked it. Corbin took out Titan and Phoenix with a tope con hello. Boz then Border Tossed Fontaine onto all of them. Finally, we get Boz vs. Walker. They slug it out. They traded nearfalls. The crowd was DEAD for this, which really surprised me. Walker had Boz finished, but Corbin made the save. Corbin delivered a protected chair shot to the head, a kick to the balls, and a tornado DDT on the chair. Phoenix made the save. The teams traded big moves and nearfalls. Titan eventually hit Fontaine with an Urinagi backbreaker: 1…2…3.

While I have mostly been critical of this feud every step of the way, I thought the first two thirds of this match was pretty solid (in a bubble). However, the emotion was pretty much non-existent towards the end, and that ended the match on a sour note. I feel like I’ve written a million times about why I do not like this feud; thus, I’m not going to waste all of your time in writing it again. Instead, I’ll just say that the effort was definitely here to have a good match, but it didn’t quite come together enough as an overall package.
Match Rating: **1/2

Jordan McEntyre came out for a promo. The audio levels weren’t great, and I honestly didn’t make an effort to try to decipher what he said. I’m pretty sure he was running down women though. Naturally, MsChif came out. Doesn’t AAW have any idea for MsChif besides fighting women-hating men? MsChif clawed his dick with her claw. MsChif then called out Mason Beck.

MsChif vs. Mason Beck
I don’t need to see either of these two in AAW. I especially don’t need to see them against each other. The match was happening. NO ONE cared. Taylor Made came out on the entrance ramp. MsChif growled at her. MsChif got a nearfall with a Code Red and then another nearfall with a big DDT. Beck came back with a Cobra Clutch slam: 1…2…3.

This was awful, but at least it didn’t overstay its welcome. The booking of MsChif has sucked for a while.
1/4*

Michael Elgin© vs. Mat Fitchett [AAW Heavyweight Championship]
Do to some goofy political nonsense, Elgin was unannounced for this show (ROH was running Chicago this weekend). The match was originally a non-title match, but Elgin announced it was now going to be for the title. This match should be very good. Fitchett is a fantastic prospect, and Elgin is one of the best wrestlers in the world.

They were working the big guy vs. little guy story in the beginning. Fitchett got a nearfall with a standing shooting star press. Elgin hit a reverse Air Raid Crash for a nearfall. Ficthett came back with a Pele but Elgin then came back with the Bossman Slam for a nearfall. The work is good, but the crowd isn’t buying a title change; thus, they are quite silent. Elgin then hit a buckle DVD: 1…2…NO! Ficthett came back with a Dragonrana (kind of) for a silent nearfall. Elgin went for the Fucking Machine Suplex, but Fitchett reversed it into a sunset flip powerbomb. Elgin avoided a shooting star press and hit a bridging, deadlift German for a nearfall. Elgin then hit the Buckle Bomb, but Fitchett then reversed the Elgin bomb into a reverse rana! Ficthett went for a shooting star, but he undershot it and landed on the ropes (think what Davey Richards did at Manhattan Mayhem 2011). Fitchett fought back with a superkick and called for a shooting star. Elgin came back with a gamengiri and a middle rope powerbomb! ELGIN BOMB: 1…2…3.

Davey Richards attacked Elgin after the match. Davey phoned in a promo about wanting to be champ. Ok, I’m a jerk for saying he phoned it in. It was a lame promo though.

This match started cold, but the closing moments elevated it. Retrospectively, I think the match should have been non-title. That would have made it way more believable that Fitchett could win. However, this was definitely very good.
Match Rating: ***1/2

AAW Heritage Title Tournament Finals
ACH vs. Samuray Del Sol
I definitely appreciate AAW putting this match together.

Del Sol got the first advantage. He was in control for a bit until ACH hit a gutbuster. ACH was in control for a while after that. ACH got a nearfall with a Cross Rhodes. They haven’t really done anything exciting yet. Del Sol got a nearfall with a standing Sliced Bread #2. Del Sol then Monkey Flipped ACH into a turnbuckle for a nearfall. Del Sol then got another nearfall with the Rising Sun #2. ACH came back with two Gibson Drivers. Del Sol came right back with a reverse rana. ACH came right back with a Brogue Kick and the Cram for the Exam: 1…2…3.

ACH sold the title win great. ACH and Del Sol shook hands after the match. Del Sol then raised ACH’s hand. ACH is the future.

Well, this was very underwhelming, but that is probably just because my expectations were too high. ACH is one of my favorite wrestlers in the world, and he has as much talent as anyone in the business. It’s a cliché, but the sky is truly the limit for him.
Match Rating: ***1/4

Jerry Lynn, Rhyno, & Arik Cannon vs. Silas Young & The Irish Airborne (Jake & Dave Crist) (w/ Val Malone)
This was billed as Jerry Lynn’s last ever match in Chicago, and the show was marketed around said match. While Lynn hadn’t been in AAW in a long time, his history in the promotion certainly warrants the main event treatment.

Not much of note happened early on. Silas Young was YOUR heel in peril for a bit. Lynn gave everyone, even Cannon, a hip toss. The babyfaces then went to do some stereo beer spots, but Cannon wanted all the beer. I guess this was supposed to be fun. Everyone brawled on the floor. Back in the ring, Rhyno was briefly worked over until Lynn tagged in and made a comeback. Val Malone interfered, which allowed the heels to cut Lynn off (Malone hit Lynn with a shoe). Cannon and Rhyno responded to this outrage with subdued indifference in the corner. Heat segment on Lynn. After a while, Cannon made a hot tag. The crowd went mild. Eventually, Jake was killed with a saito suplex and gore. Dave saved him from a cradle piledriver. Rhyno accidentally gave Cannon a gore. Dave took out Rhyno. Dave called for a cradle piledriver on Lynn, but Lynn reversed it into a cradle piledriver on Dave: 1…2…3

This didn’t really fit like an appropriate match to honor Jerry Lynn’s career, but it was a fine pro wrestling main event. I assumed Lynn was going to win, and I think it’s fine that he did.
Match Rating: ***

Once again, I don’t say it enough, but Phil Colvin and Daryck St. Holmes are one of the best commentating duos in all of professional wrestling.

Thanks everybody for reading! You can send feedback to my Twitter or to my email address: [email protected]. Also, feel free to check out my own wrestling website, FreeProWrestling.com. Also, check out my Best of Chikara blog and an archive of all my 411 video reviews.

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The 411: This isn’t a must-see DVD, but there is a lot of good wrestling up and down the card. Personally, my favorite match was Samuray Del Sol vs. Louis Lyndon, but there were a number of matches competing for my favorite match. AAW continues to be very consistent, but they have yet to truly break through the glass ceiling in terms of being great. Support AAW by buying this DVD for $15 at the AAW store. You can also go to Smart Mark Video and get the show as a $15 DVD, a $11.99 MP4, or as a $9.99 Video on Demand.

Final Score:  7.0   [ Good ]